By Shaun Hurrell, Thu,
28/04/2016 - 12:38
Stresemann’s Bristlefront Merulaxis
stresemanni: a long-tailed bird with distinctive forehead bristles, a
rufous rump, a musical whistle song, seen perhaps eating frogs and insects, and
with a tennis-ball-sized tunnel for its nest. Spotted a handful of times since
its rediscovery in Brazil’s Atlantic forest in 1995, that’s about all we know
of this unique bird. Apart from one scary fact: there are fewer than fifteen
individual birds left of the entire species.
Some species cling to existence
on mere scraps of remaining habitat until… they’re gone. And once they’re gone,
there is no turning back. But while those few individuals resist we have a
chance to save them. A chance we are not going to miss.
That is why, today, BirdLife
International embarks on an ambitious new global initiative to prevent the
extinction of endangered species including Stresemann’s Bristlefront, as part
of the Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE).
The multi-million dollar
initiative teams-up coordinators BirdLife, the American Bird Conservancy, the
Global Environment Facility, and the United Nations Environment Program with
the governments of Brazil, Chile, and Madagascar – where projects to restore
and protect AZE species’ habitat with community support will first be
demonstrated.
AZE is a global initiative
working to prevent species extinctions by identifying and safeguarding the
places where Endangered or Critically Endangered species are restricted to
single remaining, irreplaceable sites.
“Protecting the last remaining
habitats for Critically Endangered species is a vital strategy for preventing
extinctions,” said Braulio Dias, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD), with whom the initiative will work closely.
BirdLife is well-versed on Preventing Extinctions – to not save the rarest
of the rare would be unthinkable. Saving these tiny habitats is saving
entire species.
Stresemann’s Bristlefront habitat
is a remnant strip of humid forest in a valley at the border of Bahia and Minas
Gerais states, Brazil. Every day the sound of chainsaws firing up, the crackle
of forest fires, and the smell of cow dung are getting ever closer. Rapid
deforestation for logging, plantations and cattle ranching have devastated the
state’s forest, which is a unique habitat-type (South American Atlantic forest)
high in endemic species and of which only 10% of its original South American
extent remains in Brazil. The ten individual birds are clinging to existence,
stranded in an ‘island’ of forest.
With fewer than fifteen birds
left – is it possible to save them?
